MDET446AZW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

The belt tensioner was the problem and the belt had very fine cracks in it so I ordered four parts: the belt tensioner, belt and the two drum rollers. I had to work to clean the fan and the LARGE dust bunnies. I'm writing this to encourage others to consider installing new duct work, mine was becoming a fire hazard. At a minimum clean all the duct work. Your dryer will work so much better. Thank you for your printable help!??

Using instructions from your website, I was able to remove access covers from my driver & find the pieces that needed to be replaced. It was a simple repair job & now my dryer is working properly again.

Changed, got in aimed wrong direction-best to take a digital photo before you disassemble. Overtightened bolt and nut in assembly, it seized. Attempted to drill/grind it off, should have removed motor. Drill skipped up into motor windings. Could have replaced dryer, decided not, fixed by ordering motor, mount, nut and bolt and new belt idler. Reassembly was a snap till the gremlins hit again and I lost one of the drum glides. After a trip across town, I reassembled and it was good to go. Disassembly, use a screw driver to pry up the top, use the nut driver to remove upper front left and right screws, lift front forward and off bottom hooks. You have to release the wiring harness, it has four connectors. Use a sharpy marker and write the wire colors next to the plug-ins connectors you pull gently off and set the door aside. The second wires are two wires for the inner assembly which again need to be marked for color and then pulled loose. Pull them through the plastic hold down so they're out of the way. Use nut driver to remove four screws from inner drum holder, pry gently off dryer blower. Reaching around both sides of the blower housing find the belt tensioner, pull it to the right, push the belt out of it. Lift the drum out, up slightly over the back rollers. Set aside. Use the nut driver to remove the screws into the base holding the motor mount down, now lift the motor/blower assembly forward and pull gently loose from the dryer vent pipe. Set it up where you can work on it. Using the nut driver, take the screws off the blower housing, use a vise grip to secure the motor and use a 7/8 inch turning counter clockwise to remove the turbine. Use the nut driver to remove the screws holding the turbine housing in place, pop the motor clips off. Pull the motor off and remove the nut and bolt of the belt idler assembly using a wrench on the back and a socket wrench on the other side. Reverse order to reassemble, when tightening the idler arm tighten it to where you feel it stop but not any further. Put the belt around the drum again, get it in the previous location on the drum, feel around the drum to make sure belt isn't twisted, bring belt in from the back between the idler wheel and the vent pipe in a loop (Make sure the belt is behind the tension spring rather than in front), Tip the idler arm upward, use the other hand to slide the belt loop up over the motor pulley. One final note is this being a Maytag you might write these direction on the inside of the front panel for next time.

I used your great video for pointers as to what to do. I took off the front, raised the top, vacuumed the whole thing up, that took quite a while. Took out the drum. Did more cleaning. Then took off the old retaining rings with retaining ring pliers, took off the old drum rollers and support. Replaced with new roller supports, washer, roller, washer and retaining rings. Then I replaced the belt. Tested it and turned the wrong way and it came off. Replaced and tested it again and I don't know why but it came off. Replaced the belt again, tested fine. Then I replaced the felt pads and glides, they were worn. I ended up asking my husband to help hold the drum so I could get the front back on. Replaced front and door. Tried the dryer. Works great AND very, very little noise. Note: when taking the wiring off the light and the door switch, I took photo's of those places with my cell phone and had them to look at to make sure the wiring was correct.

First I was told by the maytag repair man that the motor was shot and it would be 467 dollars to repair. Since I didn't have that kind of money I decided to take it apart to see if I could replace the motor myself. Once I had it apart I saw the part that held the motor in place was broken off and the motor was out of place causing it too shut itself off. Once I figured it all out it took about 2 minutes to replace the less than 6 dollar part! Thanks partSelect!!!

Unable to find a repair manual or accurate diagram, I forged ahead and removed the top and front panels of the dryer. It took two tries to figure out how to thread the belt (nine of my ten thumbs kept getting in the way!), but after a coffee break, the job came together, and I've taken the clothesline down!

Remove screws to top of appliance lid and control panel paying close attention to location and type of screws. Lift back of top panel and lift off front top lid until it snaps up. Slide top panel to side and remove upper front panel screws from the inside of dryer one on left and one on right. Be careful to not let front door fall outward. Slide door panel up off of hooks at base of panel. Remove duct assembly by removing three screws located on the inside of the dryer at the front. Slide out and remove air duct assembly.

Removing the High Limit Thermal Fuse was straight forward. Didn't really understand the online instructions but performed a continuity test across terminals and there was no continuity, so I replaced.

Repare took 1-2 hours, next time will probably cut in half now that I know where to remove screws to access motors & fuses and dryer assemblies at base of dryer.

After removing the lower access panel, I observed the drum and belt and saw it turning freely. The support rollers in the back turned freely and were in good condition as well. At odd intervals the unit made a humming or grinding noise, and i decided to check the blower wheel (the other rotating part in the system). I found that the central hub of the wheel (which is made of a nylon like plastic) had sheared off from the wheel itself. I ordered a new part and started to remove the old wheel. **NOTE** many of the stories I read described how this part would have a reverse thread, it did not and that cost me an extra 30 minutes to figure out (the new part had arrows showing the correct direction to put on and remove - the original didn't). Once everything was cleaned and reassembled, I started the dryer again, but got no heat. I had previously replaced the heating element, so I thought my wiring was wrong. That wasn't the problem, but a hint from this site about checking the incoming wiring was the solution, my ground wire had come off the terminal in the back of the dryer and I wasn't getting the volatge across the element that it required. With the ground wire back in place, everything worked fine.

Once I was able to take apart the door assembly, I was able to determine that I needed the lint duct assembly. The parts website was very helpful with diagrams and explanations so that I could order the part with confidence. Since laundry is so important in our house I paid for expedited shipping. The part arrived in Florida less than 24 hours after it was ordered and soon after it was installed and the dryer was working properly.

I used a large flat head screwdriver to lift top up, then located 2 screws in the top right and left hand side to remove front. Remove the three Phillip Head Screws that holds the assy in place slide out. Mine had 2 metal pieces with wires. I simply unplugged and took metal pieces and installed in the new assy. Remove excess lint put front back on lowered lid and done! 15-20 minutes

removed the front panel and the drum panel cover.replaced the guides and the felt pads and re-assembled.

Unlike the other stories I read (and the video posted on the site), my unit had a lower maintenance panel on the front face which required quite a different disassembly. Once I took off the lower panel, there were screws at the bottom of the top panel. Once removed, the top front panel came out and exposed the necessary interior components. In order to get the drum out, I took out the screws holding the front of the top on and wiggled the drum out. From there I removed the belt and offending idler lever, put in the new ones and hooked the spring back up. Reverse procedure to assemble and the problem is completely gone. I even found and removed an unexpected hair band from the front skid plate. Pretty doable if you're willing to spend the time.

Terminal Block was cracked and dryer was not receiving enough voltage, causing the heating element not to heat. Here were the steps I took to fix the problem:
1. Turn off breaker to dryer from 240v outlet
2. Unplug dryer from 240v wall outlet.
3. On outside, rear of dryer, remove cover plate and the clamp that the power cord goes through with nut driver or phillips screwdriver and take picture or write down how the power cord wires go to the terminal block.
4. Use nut driver or phillips screwdriver to remove the power cord wires from terminal block and ground wire from dryer body.
5. On top front of dryer, use large slotted screwdriver or some other tool to push in on the two clips in order to lift the cover up on dryer.
6. Take picture or write down how wires are attached to terminal block.
7. Remove wires from terminal block with nut driver or phillips screwdriver.
8. Use nut driver to remove terminal block from washer and install the new terminal block.
9. Reinstall wires to new terminal block.
10. Close dryer cover.
11. Reinstall clamp onto power cord wires and reinstall wires to new terminal block and ground wire to washer body then put cover plate back on.
12. Plug in dryer then turn on breaker.
13. Start dryer to see if it heats now.

took one out - put new one in

Per instructions I printed off online: took off door, then the front panel. Pulled out the old switch/button, connected the new switch/button, made sure the new button was working; put the panel back on then the door and DONE!